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"Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feelings

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by beastwith2backs, Feb 22, 2016.

  1. beastwith2backs

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    [YOUTUBE]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UTmyvPh9qV4[/YOUTUBE]

    So, earlier today, I was watching this video made by one of my favourite youtubers ever,( even though I personally find his recent work a bit...meh, still love him.) he's talking about this thing that i've heard of in passing a couple of times called " white privelege", which badically means that in a lot of western countries, especially the USA, apparently, people who are considered "white" ( I put this in qoutations because scientifacally speaking, there's no such thing as raceat all, at all, and it's really just a bunch of social constructs us humans make up that don't really exist at all. It's really similiar to things like "boys should like blue, and girls should like pink" or which order the letters in the allhabet are in, those sort of things.) have some sort of privelege over other "races" in America. Like they get accepted to colleges, media reoresentation( something i honestly don't care about, but other people make a big deal of, so i guess it matters?), and no racial profiling. And that "black" people don't have the same priveleges. So some people naturally think that this is racism and start this thing called " black lives matter" showing that well, black lives matter. But there's another group countering them, saying that " all lives matter", not just black ones, which is true.

    I have a lot of opinions on this conplicated topic( makes my head hurt :frowning2: ), but i'm going to try to formulate them here anyway, even thiugh i onow some things i say kight not make sense... So here I go.

    Ok first off, I'm what society in the west would consider "black". But, i'm not african-american, and I don't live in the states( i'm Canadian.) the "black lives matter" "movement" says that black people in the west( or atleast the us) are underpriveleged, under reoresented, and racially profiled, and that they live under the shadow of white privelege, or whatever, and we live in an age of a different kind of racism that isn't outward, but kinda hidden, or something, and that people who tell black people to get over slavery, segregation, and jim crow, are racist,( to be fair, they usually are) and that stuff like that libeson with black people, no matter what. And that people should stand up against white privilege.

    Ok a few problems with this.
    One, like I said earlier, i'm what society classifies as "black"
    Two, But i'm not african american. None of my ancestors were even slaves. They were muslims scholars from guinea west africa, and spoke pulaar... Why is my skin colour so important that i get lumped into one group with people I don't even share a common history with? The same thing goes for calling people white or asian. All they have in common is skin colour, and skin colour is definatley not enough to unite people. DEFINATELY NOT AT ALL.
    Three, I live in Canada, not the USA . I don't neccesarily feel like i'm being racially profiled or that white people are doing so to me. Mabye i did as a little kid, because... Media, but now to me, it's starting to look more and more like that only the people who are willing to work are the ones who will be succesfull. And for some strange reason, it just seems that a lot of people who are are "white". IM NOT SAYING THAT "BLACK" PEOPLE ARE LAZY( that would kinda be defeatunf my whole point' anyway.) i'm saying that mabye there are a lot of black people who work hard, I KNOW A LOT, but bevause white people are the majority, it just seems like it's always them. Simple as that.
    Four, I understand that a lot of "blacks" in america are impoverished. Even in Canada! ( my fam's not exactly rich ourselves.) but that's not because i happen to have genes that produce more melanin, that would be silly, or that people who don't produce that much melanin are keeping it like that, so that others don't succeed. ( besides demonizing, there's many other problems with that line of thinking that a 9th grader like me can't even grasp.) it's because, i guess( IM NOOOO EXPERT ON THIS) that most of the people who are inpoverished happen to be having darker hues of skin. That's it. And society labels them black.
    Five, in case your wondering, I DONT SUPPORT ALL LIVES MATTER , ITS NOT MUCH BETTER. Becuase it belittles the problems that "black" people face in America, and to be fair there are a lot, such as racial profiling by police officers, even though i osrt of think those are sometimes over exaggerated. It really can't be that bad. Not in 2016.

    Finally, can we stop classifiying humans as "races"?
    Honestly what good has doing that done for us...ever?
    Who's even part of a race? The definitions change all the time!
    50-100 years ago, Irish , Italians,Jews, And Gypsies weren't considered white...but nowadays they are... On top of that, all those groups were EXTREMELY DISCRIMATED AGAINST in the past... But when was the last time you heard a jew bring up the holocaust in a random argument with a "white" person. To them, it's a sad and creepy memory kf what happened to their grandparents, and might make some feel guilty... But it's not part of everyday life! Why's it so different for african americans? It's analogous to north koreans constantly talking about the korean war...

    Do latin americans count as white? Not in america, but every where else yes.

    Again, us modern humans should really live this whole race donkey shit back in 1945, where it belongs. It killed 12 million in an oven, or worked to death, just because they were a "lower" race.

    The guy in the vid i linked also mentioned how america was "built to only better white people" well...what about the free blacks in america at that time? What about the immigrants who weren't considered white? Thid is like saying that sub saharan african countries were only built to better africans, even though their borders were made up by colonialists...argghh...

    Look people, history just pike very serious study, IS COMPLEX TO THE POINT THAT IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY ANYMORE.

    You really can't think you know everything just by stating half true phrases, that only make sense to like minded and vaguely like minded people.

    In conclusion, this is a tough spot for me to be in. On one hand, i'm ready to support people who seem oppressed and have good arguments. On the other hand, this new one doesn't seem to, and i feel like i'm being pressured by society to support because i happen to have a certain skin colour, which means absolutely nothing to me, other than " hey! My ancestor lived in warm climate, so the needed to protect themselves from getting too much UV light!"
    And i don't support all libes matter either, bevause they're worse on so many levels, that they make black lives matter look reasonable!

    Sorry if anything i say above is wrong, stupid, narrow minded, or misinformed, i honestly don't know much about this whole issue, this is just a 14 year old sjaring some of his deepest thoughts on what seems to be a pending issue, after all.

    So reader, what are your thoughts on this?

    Do you agree or disgree with me?


    you probabbly have no idea how much i'd LOOVE hearing from you!

    Let's debate about this!

    Thanks in advance,
    Beastwith2backs
     
  2. Foz

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    The problem with these movements is that they generally advocate some sort of segregation, in the UK the National Union of Students has began asking universities to provides black only accommodation. This goes against all the progress we've made in the last 50 years!

    Also the idea that as a whole one group of people is inherently better off because of a single attribute is laughable as it completely invalidates any issues they may face on account of them not being black for example.
     
  3. AwesomGaytheist

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    I do agree that economic and institutional racism are problems in American society, but the way BLM goes about it is very counterproductive. How is shutting down a freeway going to get anybody on your side?

    Now on the other hand, the popular refrain of "all lives matter" wasn't created in a vacuum. That's a clever little way of taking race out of a race issue, in the same way that whenever there's a mass shooting, the NRA screams "mental health" as a clever little way of taking guns out of a gun issue.
     
  4. Secrets5

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    I have no idea what the ALM movement says or does, but without the movement in mind, why don't all lives matter?

    I support the equality of black people to white people; and recognize where black people are experiencing racism and want racism to stop. However, I don't think it is acceptable to discriminate on white people in the progress [I know people call this ''positive discrimination'' - but I don't see what's ''positive'' about me not getting a job just because I'm white] . It's supposed to be equality; not diversity. If you want diversity, then please say so, because it isn't the same.

    Equality is treating everyone on the same level regardless of physical features, diversity is treating people different to get a group of people with different physical features. Both are good; depending on what you want. For a job, I'd say equality is best - a job is about who can do it, not what they look like/what they are. For an opinions interview, I'd say diversity is best so you can get different ''backgrounds'' of ideas/socialization.

    I was reading this study about how we can define the difference between blue and green because we have different names for it. Then on another image there were hues of green where only one ''green'' square was different. I couldn't tell the difference, and neither could the other people in the actual study. Why? Because we didn't have a name for the different hues; but the people in one area that had a different name for the hues could. Now I'm not sure if green and blue are applicable to white and black (as white and black aren't colours, they're something else, can't remember what) but keeping the study in mind; if we remove the names white and black - then we can't define it different as we don't have a word for the difference.

    Anyway, I might have said something offensive here, I don't know, apparently anything a white person says is, but I've said what I've thought, and I think I've said it respectfully so here is what I think.
     
  5. baconpox

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    I mean, race does exist scientifically. That's why they have if you're Latin@ on doctors forums. It is just physical characteristics though, and BLM makes it into too big of a deal.
     
  6. Kinky

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    Neither. BLM is counterproductive. ALM is redundant and trivializes the issues at hand . Because these movements are exciting, I'd love to see how all this will end.
    How could the situation get any worse?
     
  7. imnotreallysure

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    I'm just happy that things like this don't have much of a presence here compared to the US where race seems to dominate absolutely everything and people can't go one day without talking about it. Race baiting gets old fast.
     
    #7 imnotreallysure, Feb 23, 2016
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2016
  8. eMei

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    ^ This.

    I've never encountered or heard racism where I live and we have one of the lowest black populations in the UK. Over here, racial segregation/prejudice just isn't a thing.
     
  9. beastwith2backs

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    No it isn't. There's nothing in our genes that says anyone is black or white. It's pretty much just society.
     
  10. C P

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    Gotta love how you completely belittle/invalidate the real issues that black folk(and, well, minorities in general) face, despite trying to throw in a statement that implies otherwise.
     
  11. Libertino

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    I can't even imagine what a society where it isn't such a huge factor is even like. However, I have heard a lot of British people speak about issues with immigrants in their country--and that often has a racial factor to it.
     
  12. gravechild

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    I've seen quite a few black social activist from elsewhere (Canada, England, Australia) speak out on movements like Black Lives Matter, as well as sharing how it's like to have obvious African ancestry and live in a white majority environment.

    Then again, this is just from what I read online.
     
  13. C P

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    This is a situation I also share, and I've been to a number of places.
     
  14. beastwith2backs

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    How did I belittle anything? I'm black too, i'm not exactly rich, i never said minorities don't fave issues, I mentioned that a few times. I also mentioned that I don't think the way how black lives matter is going about trying to end/ atleats make it better is effective, perhaps it's counter productive, ahdunno. I think I mentioned (an unhealthy) amount of times that I don't really know what i'm talking about, I'm not shure where I stand in this, or what this all even means or why I should care. For the Millionth time, if I said anything you feel is inaccurate or misinformed, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME. I wanna learn about what this is all about. But from what I see right now, Both BLM and ALM both seem fairly silly, with ALM being borderline racist, I guess. Does that explain to you why I might have saud two contradictory things? Basically what I'm saying is that mabye minorities face many problems in the US, but it's not because they're Minorities, or that white people are controlling it all, i don't think that, i think that's silly. I'm against BLM or for it for that matter, I just don't think it makes anysense or has much of a point.

    Again, correct me if I'm wrong!
     
    #14 beastwith2backs, Feb 23, 2016
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2016
  15. Southern Stoic

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    I think all these movements are silly and pointless. They always start out good but then people act out violently against folks who are completely uninvolved and and many end up hurt and for what? For a hashtag on twitter? For a youtube video you think will make a point but will end up forgotten?

    Our civilization is doomed to collapse at some point regardless but it'll happen a lot sooner at this rate.
     
  16. FalconBlueSky00

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    In west Texas here. I think that BLM is very important because the black people I know here are oppressed and harassed by the police all the time. I've heard this both from Afican Americans here as well as stories from one of the deputies sons. It is a very big problem, and racism here is still very direct there's nothing subtle about it. White people here use the N word regularly around me like they expect I'm going to agree, and the language in django unchained didn't really phase me because I regularly heard worse growing up. You live in a very different cultural climate, which I'm very thankful for. There are still places where the problems are very real though.

    Don't get me started on Misouri, that place was scary and I was only there a few days.
     
  17. imnotreallysure

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    We have our own problems - but Americans really stand out as being obsessed with race in ways people elsewhere just aren't. It seems to me that Americans see everything in racial terms. This isn't to say that people here are blind to race, because they're certainly not - but you don't really get things like 'Black Lives Matter' here. I don't remember doing anything about Black History Month in school - heck, I wouldn't have been aware such a thing existed if it wasn't for 'That's so Raven'.

    Immigration sparks debate here - but the US seems like an extremely divided nation on almost every subject. Maybe that's just the consequence of being such a large nation - but I think it says a lot when a British and a Spanish person would see eye to eye on more things than a person from Oklahoma and California.
     
    #17 imnotreallysure, Feb 23, 2016
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2016
  18. Matto_Corvo

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    In the town I live the people I see being most racist to black people are other black people, meanwhile the white people are carefully chosen the words they say because they do not wish to offend anyone. Both black and white people here are openly racist to Hispanics, Asians, and any one from the middle east.

    I have a friend who started her student teaching last semester. She was placed in a school where 95% of the students and all the teachers were black. She was alright with that, after all she grew up in a trailer park where all her neighbors are African american and gangs are pretty bad. She never had a problem with them and they never had a problem with her.
    The people at this school had a problem with her. The students (4th graders) insisted that because she was white she had to be rich, because their parents told them that all white people were rich. They didn't believe her when she said she lived in a trailer park. They thought that her driving a car being held together by duck tape (I'm not even making that up) was her trying to blend in and that she had a better car at home. The students also said that they didn't have to listen to her because she was white.
    On top of that any time her CT left the teachers would start making racist jokes towards her, made slave jokes, and called her racist terms. Uncomfortable as she was she never complained to anyone other than me because she felt that being white she had no right to. Eventually the CT dropped her from the program, keeping her from graduating that semester, because she wasn't making enough progress and because the other teachers reported that they felt uncomfortable around her.
    Yet, we're told racism towards white people doesn't happen.
    I know there is much worse racism happen towards black people, like police brutality, and that should be dealt with. But a lot of problems I see with BLM movements is that they wish to oppress other groups. Once your fight for equality begins to opress another group it can no longer be considered a equality movement.

    But of course I'm white (ignoring the large chunk of native american in me) so I know very little and am to privileged to have an opinion that matters.
     
  19. Kinky

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    Sigh, just out with the names of who did the 'belittle' thing already, no need for the passive aggression. Is it me? I won't lie that I find racial politics entertaining.
     
  20. Libertino

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    Re: "Black lives matter?" "All lives matter?" "White privelege?" My thoughts and feel

    I believe that a lot of it does have to do with being a large nation; many nations (especially those of Europe) are much smaller and more homogeneous--the U.S. is founded on the idea of not being homogeneous: we are a mix of all different cultures and lifestyles and that, unfortunately, often only breeds division. But other countries, even the more diverse ones (i.e. Australia, Canada) simply do not have the history that we do: few modern nations can say they enslaved an entire race for centuries and then proceeded to treat said race like shit after the enslavement ended. That history has shaped attitudes toward race in the U.S. and it is something that has proven very hard to get over.
     
    #20 Libertino, Feb 24, 2016
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2016